The Bengal government is planning to meet companies working in the drone sector to update its existing drone guidelines and attract more companies to set up a base in the state.

“We already have an existing guideline and we are trying to upgrade it and make it more competitive. I have met several young entrepreneurs working in the drone sector and have asked them to come and meet the state government, outlining their aspirations and any specific changes that they want. There is also a drone academy in the pipeline,” said Bengal IT minister Babul Supriyo on the sidelines of an event organised by Assocham on Tuesday.

The state government had notified the West Bengal Drone Technology Promotion Guidelines in 2020 to empower it to leverage drone technology for real time governance and enable effective and efficient service delivery to the citizens.

The IT minister also said that he has met top officials of GlobalFoundries on Tuesday who have come to the city to explore locations for setting up their R&D centre. “They have already identified the space where they are going to set up the R&D unit in an STPI building that meets their requirement. It is going to happen sooner than later,” the minister said.

He added that the state is working on finalising the policies on Global Capability Centre (GCCs) and semiconductors which are expected to be announced soon.